So if the Aggies beat Pacific, does that mean they technically didn't get swept by UTEP?
Probably not, but tonight's win over Pacific will hopefully give the Aggies some confidence moving forward.
I talked a lot of defense in post game and that will be the focus on the story in Monday's paper. I thought tonight was the best defensive performance the Aggies played, perhaps since Menzies took over — for an extended period of time. Pacific shot the Aggies out of their zone maybe midway through the first half, and then from then on, it was pretty much straight man to man and Pacific had some decent guards. We have seen flashes of good man-to-man, there were stretches at home against UNM, but never as sustained as they were tonight. NMSU forced eight turnovers in the second half after just one in the first half. And once the game got up and down, Pacific was really playing into the Aggies' hands.
Just think if Pacific didn't extend some of those possessions in the first half with nine offensive rebounds. Instead of being down by five at the half, the Aggies could have been up by a significant amount.
Pacific is good, St. Marys guards are in a different world, but Saturday NMSU's guards impressed me on the defensive end.
17 comments:
Thats funny that you said "So if the Aggies beat Pacific, does that mean they technically didn't get swept by UTEP?" because i told that to my friends after the game. I agree. Nice blog
I'm glad the Aggies are back on the winning track but it's so damn frustrating that they can never do it against the Lobos or Miners. Rivals are a big deal here and people new to Las Cruces and NM State just don't get it. The season is over for many Aggie fans.
This was agood win. The Aggies played outstanding defense, especially in the second half. This is actually the third game in a row they played really well defensively. I'm enjoying the maturation of the younger players as they get more playing time. The 2 games this week will be interesting. Louisiana because we beat them once but with TG and HR in the lineup and St. Mary's because they are a very good BB team. This team works very hard and will be competitive in every game they have left on the schedule. I'm guessing HR and TG will be back at some point and I don't know about WM but this team's success will continue if they can hit 45% from the field and 70% from the FT line. Too bad nobody is coming out to see them but that's their loss as they are missing out on some hard working kids.
Well, I live in San Antonio, Texas...so that's why I am not going to every game...lol. As much as the Aggies have frustrated me, I admit I would still be going to Aggie games if I lived closer.
Anon 6:49
If the folks in Las Cruces who are not new to the community or to NMSU care so much about the rivalries to the point where the season is over to them, why is the Pan Am so empty when the Lobos and Miners come to town? Surely there cannot be that many new people who dont support the team in a retirement community. Get over the rivalry issue, beating them will not give us a conference championship or an at large bid to the tourney.
I like the way the team played last night but I have an issue I want to bring out. I dont think Kabongo should run the point when Laroche is on the bench. Kabongo reminds me of a mix between Jaydee Luster and Gibson. He takes to many ill advised shots (misses most) and makes too many bad passes. Herig looked decent against Panhandle and seemed to handle the offense pretty well. If we recruited a point guard why not use him?
GS
Beating the Miners or Lobos will not get us an automatic bid but it will look good for an at-large bid. There was a time when NM State used to get invited to the NCAA on a regular basisa. How old are you GS? Are you from Las Cruces originally? I'm 39 and have been going to Aggie games since I was in diapers. I don't think I know everything but I will say that I know more than most on this blog.
Comparing Jaydee Luster to CK?
I got nothing.
Luster was a pass only guard for the most part. CK is a scorer.
Why are we talking about Luster? He was also under 6-feet tall. CK is much more talented than Luster when he was a freshman
Anon 6:40,
I didnt know you knew enough to tell us that beating the Lobos and Miners would give us a better chance of getting an at large bid. Just because we consider them important does not mean that the selection people do. For example, in 2006-2007 we made the tourney thanks to winning the conference championship. Had we not won, Utah St and Nevada would have gone to the tourney. We had a 3-1 record against our rivals that year, you mean to tell me that that record would have given us a better chance of an at large bid? The only way beating our rivals will help us get an at large is if A) they are actually good enough to be considering a good victory out of Las Cruces and B) the WAC is a two bid league. It is important to beat them because no one likes losing to them but the truth is that in the Menzies era having a bad record against them has never prevented us from going to the tourney or reduced our chances. You say you have been going to the games since diapers, name one season when you can say that beating our rivals has increased our chances or decreased our chances of getting an at large bid.
I compared CK to Luster in terms of PASSING. IMO CK makes too many errant passes which reminded me of how Luster played in the short time he was here. Not in overall talent, just passing the ball around.
GS
Agree with you there Jason. CK is still learning. One thing he has to get figured out is what is a good or bad shot. WAAAYYY too many times I saw him shooting off balance, or between multiple defenders. He's still learning and once he does get it figured out, he's going to be tough to handle. I like his aggressiveness though!
Oh, and I agree with the poster that was talking about the Pan Am not being filled for the rivalry games. If people in LC really cared, they would be at the game. PERIOD!
GO AGGIES!!!!
1) Jaydee was a pass-first guy, but not a simple pass guy. In that, I can see the comparison to CK. Herig is a walk-on, and probably wouldnt stand up defensively night after night.
2) please please please stop comparing the McCarthy era with the current era of college ball. First, the system is far more biased against non-cartel schools than it was in the late 80s, second, many of those appearances were earned with ineligible players.
CK does what JY wouldn't (couldn't?) do: takes the ball to the rack. Okay, it backfired in the UNM game but CK is a determined kid and he'll learn how to draw the foul. Look for this guy to cash in many And-1 jackpots down the road.
Menzies bringing guys up a freshmen is the key to having great leadership. Example Gordo in this stretch using effort to make up for leaders Wendell and Troy sidelined. D won the Pacific game but you don't score 5 more than the Tigers w/o a senior out for 28 mins of all out effort.
Hey, alright! The nmstatesports site box score finally included points in the paint, fast break points, pts off TOs, etc., again. Jimmy missed the game but see that Ags scored 14 more in the paint than Pacific. Take it that was a combo of Chili, Dixon, West and Watson working the Tigers over!
Second chance points (6 buckets to 5) and Pacific getting 14 offensive rebounds is area of concern. Coach won't ever be able to stop yammering on fundamentals with this group but that's what makes for good coaching anyway.
Bench points ... holy smokes!!!
GS, u mad bro.
USC basically had No. 4 KS beat in Fogg Allen this weekend for the first time in like, 64 home games. Except the freshman (Selby/ Shelby?) for the Jayhawks that came off NCAA suspension hit clutch 3's and, budda-bing, two point loss for the Trojans. That USC win over KS paired with NMSU defeats of UTEP (if they don't hit 3's) and a Pan Am squeaker against the vaunted LowBlows (OT game) and the Aggies might have a pretty good RPI. But that's the way the cookie crumbles.
You still go to the home games becasue you love to watch basketball. If they didn't have Men's hoops at NMSU you'd probably attend all the Roadrunners games. Where are the folks complaining about attendence at women's home games? Most people only invest their money to go see a winner so when the Aggies were able to run the table in the Big West and occasionally get a miracle last second shot from Randy Brown or Keith Hill versus the Running Rebels, then the whole town would come out. Okay, so you beat the UC Irvine Anteaters and the No. 1 team in the country in the same year using guys that got their grades up in junior college against the likes of Anthony, Augmon, Johnson. It was a mirage! But that's what the people who are grumbling fire Menzies are holding out for ... the Good Ol' Days ... and holding on to their wallets! Go see a live game instead of AggieVision.
Peace J.G., good blog, Brother!
Menzies is lucky to have all the injuries this year so he can develop younger players and even the walk-on gets PT. w/o injuries the pressure on Menzies to win is too intense for any of these guys to see court time. Everyone I talk to has seen an amazing transformation in Chili over just a 4 or 5 game span. Second game against Ragin Cajuns tonite is a good reality check to compare the line-up from Nov 12 with the interim line-up tonight. I wish Coach could play these younger guys in pre-conf every year and lose some game w/o people getting all over him. WAC's a conf where you must get the automatic bid to ensure tourney selection, dudes!
RE: Ragin Cajuns game
Nice having senior leadership coming off the bench and scoring 80% of your bench points! Gordo is making an example for the rest of the team to follow! Hope that Bandja reacts well to starting and then only getting 18 mins while Gordo burned up the nets! Still it comes down to fundamentals: example w/o 83% second half FT shooting Aggies add one to the L column.
The defensive glass problems vs Lafayette had to do with multiple Aggies challenging slashing drives to the rack and then ending up under the basket with the rebound out to the lane or the sides. Trei Steward will be showing the younger guys how to put a body on somebody and block out.
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